Preparing for a presentation

Reprinted with permission from Marcin Wichary.

Marketing

· design/print/put up posters

· buzz/tweet a teaser a couple of days before (with some teaser slides or poster or a site URL?)

· buzz/tweet early the same day

· buy goodies to give away

Presentation content

· prepare extra slides to show for Q&A/keep slides you cut

· prepare an “attract mode” slide/animation to be shown as people come in

· …and/or music

· # tag on the first slide, contact + URL on the last slide if necessary

· run through PR if external

Presentation mechanics

· test without Internet access

· back up to an SD card

· put up on a public server (as a personal backup)

Check out the room beforehand

· attend a different talk if possible, get a sense of geography and acoustics

· move presentation content to the top of the slides/increase font size if limited visibility

· adjust presentation colours for the projector’s colour space and room lighting

· request wireless/lavalier mikes if you want to

Prepare notebook

· charge

· kill all the browsers and software etc.

· perform or kill software updates so they don’t bother you later

· clean up the desktop

· set up a nice wallpaper (make sure to set it up connected to a projector)

· create an easily accessible shortcut to your presentation (if you need to restart midflight)

· turn off display sleep, screensaver, etc.

· put the browser in full screen mode

Prepare your remote

· charge

· put into airplane mode

· connect to wi-fi, set up wi-fi password, set up auto-connect, forget other wi-fi networks

· enable orientation lock

· turn off sleep settings

Things to bring with you

· notebook 

· VGA or DVI dongle + cable extender if necessary

· charger

· any remotes

· any giveaways

Room

· set up projector aspect ratio (so that your pixels are square)

· adjust color correction on the projector or on the computer (check blacks and whites)

· check sound level on your PC

· set up mikes/lavaliers